Chapter CXXVI.--The various names of Christ according to both natures. It is shown that He is God, and appeared to the patriarchs.
"But if you knew, Trypho," continued I, "who He is that is called at one time the Angel of great counsel, [2439] and a Man by Ezekiel, and like the Son of man by Daniel, and a Child by Isaiah, and Christ and God to be worshipped by David, and Christ and a Stone by many, and Wisdom by Solomon, and Joseph and Judah and a Star by Moses, and the East by Zechariah, and the Suffering One and Jacob and Israel by Isaiah again, and a Rod, and Flower, and Corner-Stone, and Son of God, you would not have blasphemed Him who has now come, and been born, and suffered, and ascended to heaven; who shall also come again, and then your twelve tribes shall mourn. For if you had understood what has been written by the prophets, you would not have denied that He was God, Son of the only, unbegotten, unutterable God. For Moses says somewhere in Exodus the following: The Lord spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, being their God; and my name I revealed not to them, and I established my covenant with them.' [2440] And thus again he says, A man wrestled with Jacob,' [2441] and asserts it was God; narrating that Jacob said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.' And it is recorded that he called the place where He wrestled with him, appeared to and blessed him, the Face of God (Peniel). And Moses says that God appeared also to Abraham near the oak in Mamre, when he was sitting at the door of his tent at mid-day. Then he goes on to say: And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them.' [2442] After a little, one of them promises a son to Abraham: Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, and I am old? Is anything impossible with God? At the time appointed I will return, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. And they went away from Abraham.' [2443] Again he speaks of them thus: And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom.' [2444] Then to Abraham He who was and is again speaks: I will not hide from Abraham, my servant, what I intend to do.' " [2445] And what follows in the writings of Moses I quoted and explained; "from which I have demonstrated," I said, "that He who is described as God appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and the other patriarchs, was appointed under the authority of the Father and Lord, and ministers to His will." Then I went on to say what I had not said before: "And so, when the people desired to eat flesh, and Moses had lost faith in Him, who also there is called the Angel, and who promised that God would give them to satiety, He who is both God and the Angel, sent by the Father, is described as saying and doing these things. For thus the Scripture says: And the Lord said to Moses, Will the Lord's hand not be sufficient? thou shalt know now whether my word shall conceal thee or not.' [2446] And again, in other words, it thus says: But the Lord spake unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan: the Lord thy God, who goeth before thy face, He shall cut off the nations.' [2447]
[2439] [By Isaiah. "Counsellor" in English version.]
[2440] Ex. vi. 2 ff.
[2441] Gen. xxxii. 24, 30.
[2442] Gen. xviii. 2.
[2443] Gen. xviii. 13 f.
[2444] Gen. xviii. 16.
[2445] Gen. xviii. 17.
[2446] Num. xi. 23.
[2447] Deut. xxxi. 2 f.
Chapter CXXVII.--These passages of Scripture do not apply to the Father, but to the Word.
"These and other such sayings are recorded by the lawgiver and by the prophets; and I suppose that I have stated sufficiently, that wherever [2448] God says, God went up from Abraham,' [2449] or, The Lord spake to Moses,' [2450] and The Lord came down to behold the tower which the sons of men had built,' [2451] or when God shut Noah into the ark,' [2452] you must not imagine that the unbegotten God Himself came down or went up from any place. For the ineffable Father and Lord of all neither has come to any place, nor walks, nor sleeps, nor rises up, but remains in His own place, wherever that is, quick to behold and quick to hear, having neither eyes nor ears, but being of indescribable might; and He sees all things, and knows all things, and none of us escapes His observation; and He is not moved or confined to a spot in the whole world, for He existed before the world was made. How, then, could He talk with any one, or be seen by any one, or appear on the smallest portion of the earth, when the people at Sinai were not able to look even on the glory of Him who was sent from Him; and Moses himself could not enter into the tabernacle which he had erected, when it was filled with the glory of God; and the priest could not endure to stand before the temple when Solomon conveyed the ark into the house in Jerusalem which he had built for it? Therefore neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man, saw the Father and ineffable Lord of all, and also of Christ, but [saw] Him who was according to His will His Son, being God, and the Angel because He ministered to His will; whom also it pleased Him to be born man by the Virgin; who also was fire when He conversed with Moses from the bush. Since, unless we thus comprehend the Scriptures, it must follow that the Father and Lord of all had not been in heaven when what Moses wrote took place: And the Lord rained upon Sodom fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven;' [2453] and again, when it is thus said by David: Lift up your gates, ye rulers; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall enter;' [2454] and again, when He says: The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.' [2455]
[2448] hotau pon instead of hotan mou.
[2449] Gen. xviii. 22.
[2450] Ex. vi. 29.
[2451] Gen. xi. 5.
[2452] Gen. vii. 16.
[2453] Gen. xix. 24.
[2454] Ps. xxiv. 7.
[2455] Ps. cx. 1.